Area reps see a ‘one-time opportunity’ for reform

WASHINGTON — After a week of mass protests demanding action, House Democrats on Monday rolled out sweeping legislation aimed at curbing police violence that led to George Floyd’s death — which they called a sacrifice that “has brought America to its knees.”

“He died a vicious death. If anything, he sacrificed his life — his life was sacrificed — for the nation to answer his call,” said U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat and senior member of the House Judiciary Committee overseeing the response, which includes legislation she filed. “This is a seismic and one-time opportunity to be able to deal with where we are today.”

The legislation would ban chokeholds and no-knock search warrants in drug cases, bolster the Justice Department’s authority to

crack down on misconduct and chip away at some of officers’ legal protections when they are sued in civil court, among other things. It comes as sustained protests have erupted across the nation, from small towns such as Vidor, Texas, to cities such as Washington in the weeks since Floyd died while a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to the neck.

Democrats say the Floyd slaying is a turning point, as polling indicates the majority of Americans now believe police are more likely to use force against African Americans — a viewpoint backed by statistics — and even voices once critical of the Black Lives Matter movement have joined it.

“Mr. George Floyd’s murder, shown by way of video, has created an Edmund Pettus Bridge moment where the world is watching and saying this cannot be tolerated,” U.S. Rep. Al Green, a Houston Democrat who appeared at a Monday news conference with House Democratic leaders unveiling the legislation, said in an interview. “This piece of legislation is timely because it’s needed and it’s past time for us to do it. The NFL sees that black lives matter. You’ve got Republican senators saying it.

And it’s time for us to say it. And I think we’re saying it with this legislation.”

Still, while the bill is likely to pass the Democratic-controlled House, its fate in the Republicancontrolled Senate is less clear.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a former state attorney general and Texas Supreme Court justice, said in a tweet: “Serious issues require serious bipartisan work in order to make progress. Partisan grandstanding is not serious.”

Cornyn, who spoke with Floyd’s family on Monday, said he is “dedicated to rooting out racial injustices so no other family has to experience what George Floyd’s family has.” In a speech on the Senate floor, he called for a National Criminal Justice Commission study “that would review our criminal justice system writ large from top to bottom” and recommend reforms.

In Texas, lawmakers say they’re optimistic that they can pass more police accountability laws next legislative session, including strengthening the 2017 Sandra Bland Act, which made de-escalation and crisis intervention training mandatory for officers, and required them to document all traffic stops even when no arrest is made, among other provisions.

Texas Democrats say federal legislation is needed, too.

“I’m literally scared to death for a traffic stop or a pedestrian stop for my son,” Jackson Lee said. “Black men are killed on the streets of America by police, the statistics will show, every day. What we want to do is change the police department from being a warrior to a guardian.”

The bill would change the standard for how police can use force. Under current law, officers can use force when it is “reasonable.” The bill would raise that threshold, requiring officers to use force only when “necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury.” It would also mandate training on racial bias and would limit the transfer of military equipment to police departments.

The bill lowers the federal standard for prosecuting police misconduct and chips away at qualified immunity, which shields police officers from being sued. It would also require closer tracking of use of force, something sought by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat.

“There is no single policy reform that can erase the historical evils of police brutality, white supremacy and the oppression of black and brown folks, but we must push for significant structural changes that prevent future abuse and begin the process of healing our nation,” Castro said in a statement.

The no-knock provisions, Democrats say, would prevent botched drug raids such as the Harding Street raid last year in Houston in which homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle were killed and five officers were injured.

The legislation would also require federal officers to wear body cameras and would offer grants to states to create independent investigative panels to probe police slayings, such as that of Joshua Johnson in Houston earlier this year, in which no video could be found.

“The perception is that the police don’t police themselves well and that the relationship between police and prosecuting authorities is a close one,” Green said. “It’s just time now for us to change the paradigm and get these independent investigations.”

Charley Wilkison, executive director of the state’s largest police officers union, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said officers in Texas already wear body cameras and “already can’t use force without going through the chain.”

“Some of the things they’re talking about at the federal level must be aimed at Minnesota, because in Texas we’ve been trying our best to make this an honorable profession that people can come to and stay their whole career,”

Wilkison said.

Wilkison said he had not yet read the full bill, but if its purpose is to create a higher standard and better officers, he doesn’t believe unions will necessarily be opposed, though they will “read it carefully and make sure there’s nothing punitive against good officers.”

“You can bet … that Texas cops want to be the best,” he said. “That’s what they aspire to be. That’s the goal. To be perfect every day.”

Green called the policing legislation a good first step. He said he plans to file a bill calling for the creation of a Cabinet-level position overseeing reconciliation “whose job it is to get up every morning and work on the elimination of racism.”

“We have to go there at some point. We should have gone there hundreds of years ago,” Green said. “We survived slavery, but we didn’t reconcile. We survived segregation — lawful segregation — but we didn’t reconcile. We are now in a period of racism and insidious discrimination. It’s time for us to reconcile.”

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up the policing bill on Wednesday and a vote is expected by the full House as soon as this week.